The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry, 1990.
The book begins with a letter from the author, saying that she wrote the book in order to explain to people the importance of rain forests and why they should be preserved.
Two men are walking through a rain forest. They are there to cut down the trees (probably for farming). The animals watch as one of the men begins chopping at a great Kapok tree with his axe. It’s hard work, and before the man gets very far with his chopping, he has to stop and rest.
As the man sleeps, the animals come to him and whisper to him not to chop the tree down. The boa constrictor tells him that his ancestors have lived there for generations. The monkeys tell him that if he chops all the trees down, there will be no tree roots to hold the soil in place, and it will wash away, eventually changing the land into a desert. The birds are worried because people use fire to help clear the forest, and it destroys everything. All of the animals are worried about where they will live and what they will eat if the forest disappears.
The animals also point out to the man that destroying this forest would also be destroying his own future and that of his children. The forest produces oxygen for humans to breathe.
Finally, a human child from the Yanomamo tribe that lives in the forest asks the man to wake up and look at him and all the animals. The man is startled and amazed by what he sees. He thinks about continuing his work, but seeing the child and all of the animals staring at him silently, hoping that he won’t, he decides that he can’t bring himself to do it and leaves.
I don’t remember reading this book when I was a kid, but I remember other stories very much like it. Environmental issues like this were common topics of discussion when I was in elementary school during the early 1990s. One of the movies of my childhood, FernGully, came out in 1992, a couple of years after this book was first published. That movie is also based on a book, although it has even more fantasy elements than this story, which has talking animals. Both of these stories demonstrate how many children during the 1990s were raised to be environmentally aware.
This is a Reading Rainbow Book. It is currently available online through Internet Archive (multiple copies).
Mystery Back of the Mountain by Mary C. Jane, 1960.
When they get to Maine, they meet Uncle James’s lawyer, Mr. Palmer, to collect the key to the house. Mr. Palmer tells them that the house has a few items in it that could be considered valuable antiques, including a portrait of the woman that Uncle James had wanted to marry, Drusilla Randall. The children’s father asks Mr. Palmer more about Drusilla Randall, and he says that all he knows is that she had an argument with Uncle James and then disappeared. He thinks that she just left town, although he says that there are rumors that Uncle James may have murdered her. Mr. Palmer thinks that the rumors are ridiculous and doesn’t take them seriously, but Stevie and Anne are disturbed at the idea that their relative may have been a murderer, or that people thought he was. Mr. Palmer also mentions that Drusilla’s sister, Marion, has decided to return to her family’s old house for the summer as well, so she’ll be living close to their farm.
The house is certainly an isolated place, and their closest neighbors, the Hodges have an old grudge against Uncle James. The unethical business deal that Uncle James did years ago involved buying some of the Hodges’s family’s best land. Bert Hodges, who was young at the time, says that the deal ruined his father’s life, and it’s making his miserable, too, because he really needs that land to make his farm profitable. Anne hears this from Bert’s young niece, Oleva, an orphan who has come to live with her aunt and uncle. Although Uncle Bert is strict with her and somewhat bitter about the past and the family’s circumstances, Oleva likes her aunt and uncle and wishes they would adopt her, giving her the stable home she’s longed for since her parents died and she began being traded around among her relatives. However, Bert doesn’t have much faith in other people, and even though he likes his young niece, is afraid to commit to adopting her.
Anne feels badly that Uncle James’s land deal seems to have ruined people’s lives. Oleva also tells her something disturbing about Drusilla, the girl that Uncle James loved. They were supposed to be married when Drusilla turned twenty, but she disappeared before that happened, and most people think that she drowned in the natural pool on Uncle James’s property. It’s deeper than it appears at first, and some things belonging to her were found nearby, so everyone thinks that she probably drowned and that her body is still somewhere at the bottom of the pool. Whether her death was an accident, suicide, or murder is still unknown.
Mystery on Nine-Mile Marsh by Mary C. Jane, 1967.
Lucille and Brent take a bike ride out to the island, but a noise in the barn frightens them away. It isn’t that they really think there’s a ghost, but they’re concerned that someone may be trespassing on the property. They decide to keep an eye on the house to see if they can see anyone sneaking around, but they don’t.
Mr. Linsday has also heard strange noises around the Moody house, and he asks the children what they know about it. They tell him the ghost stories about the Moody place, but they say that they don’t really believe that there’s a ghost. Mr. Lindsay is fascinated by the stories. He says that his impression was that the noises he heard came from the cellar, but he didn’t see anything when he investigated. He invites the children to help him investigate further sometime.
Barbara’s father owns a clothing store in town, and she says that some of his customers have been saying bad things about Mr. Lindsay. Some of them have even said that he might be a spy. Lucille thinks that’s ridiculous and that they’re only saying things because they wanted to buy the property or see it go to Clyde. Lucille has to admit that she doesn’t know much about Mr. Lindsay, so she can’t swear that the rumors aren’t true, but she still thinks that he’s probably just a nice guy, and she wants to see him keep the house so that Pedro will have a safe place to live.
This book was originally written in German. It was written in Germany during the 
At the beginning of this story, it explains that Emil Tischbein’s father died when he was very young and that his mother works hard as a hairdresser to support the two of them. When she can, she saves a little money for Emil’s grandmother as well. When the story begins, Emil is preparing for a train trip to Berlin to visit his relatives. Emil will be traveling by himself and will meet his relatives near the station when he arrives. His mother gives him some money to take to his grandmother and warns him to be careful. Emil pins the money inside his pocket for security.
Determined to get the money for his grandmother back, Emil searches for Herr Grundeis and spots him getting off the train. It’s too soon for Emil’s stop, but he follows Grundeis off the train anyway, tracking him to a café.
Gustav recruits a bunch of other boys from the neighborhood, and they continue tailing Grundeis through the city to his hotel. The boys call another friend at home, who keeps track of their progress and gives them reports about what others have said. Emil gets one of the other boys to tell his relatives that he has been delayed on important business, causing his cousin, Pony Hutchen, to come and tell him that everyone is worried and that he’s going to be in big trouble with his relatives if he doesn’t show up soon. However, they still have the problem of deciding how to confront Grundeis and get him to return the money. In this case, the detectives don’t need to solve the mystery of who the thief is. The real problem is how to prove it.
There was a note in the beginning of my copy of the book that says that many of the character names in the book are actually jokes on the part of the author. It’s not as obvious in English because the forms of the names sound reasonable for German names, but anyone who knows German would spot that they aren’t real names. For example, Emil’s last name is Tischbein, which means “table-leg,” and the thief’s alias, Grundeis, means “ground-ice.”
A Clue in Code by Marilyn Singer, 1985.
Sam and Dave decide to begin their investigation with Willie. His father is the school’s custodian, and Willie has been using a copy of his father’s key to the school to sneak around after hours. To the twins’ surprise, when they confront Willie, not only does Willie deny stealing the money, but it turns out that he’s actually been scared and upset himself. After being caught stealing the last time, his parents have been especially strict with him, sending him to bed early, limiting his time with friends, and not allowing him to watch tv or read comic books. In fact, his father tried to get rid of his entire collection of comic books by throwing them in the trash, but Willie rescued them and has been hiding them in the school, sneaking away to read them when he can. However, someone has discovered them and stolen them. Willie wants his comic books back, but he can’t report them stolen because his father thinks that they’re already gone. Worse still, his parents will be even harder on him if he ends up taking the blame for stealing the class’s trip money.
In spite of Willie’s reputation, which he deserves, Sam and Dave think that he’s telling the truth about the thefts. Then, they happen to find a strange message that appears to be written in code after some of their classmates were throwing paper airplanes. With the help of Rita, a friend who is very good with codes, they decode the message and uncover a valuable clue that explains why the comic books were taken and leads them to the thief’s identity.
Jestress's Forgotten Books and Stories 
